Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
by Dulin
Summary: Rochel has a nightmare from his past. Answer to the 'Never judge a book by its cover' challenge on spank palace. RochelAlexiel, KatanRochel


**Title** : Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World  
**Author** : Dùlin  
**Fandom** : Angel Sanctuary  
**Rating** : R/M  
**Challenge** : Never Judge a Book By Its Cover at spankpalace  
**Warnings** : angst, blood, a bit of gore and wicked angels galore.  
**Disclaimer** : Angel Sanctuary belongs to the great Yuki Kaori-sensei. _Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World_ is a book by the awesome Haruki Murakami. Which, you might have noticed, I am not. Either of them.  
**A/N** : Apparently, I suck at trying _not_ to write in certain fandoms. And before anyone asks, 'Rochel' is the way Rosiel's name is tranliterated in my version of the manga (French), and I'm keeping it because I like the sonority better than that of the English transliteration. It's pronounced 'Roshel'.

**O.O.O.O**

"..iel ! Alexiel !"

She didn't turn around. She never did, but it never prevented Rochel from trying, and trying, and trying again, because one day she might.

The words tumbled out of his mouth. He had so many things to tell her, and so little time. They never allowed him to stay long. After a while, a nun would come and tell him that it was enough for today, that Mistress Alexiel needed rest and that he would have to come back another day.

"Look, Alexiel ! They gave me some of your skin ! I look healthy now ! I look beautiful now, Alexiel !"

If he was lucky, the wind would play with her hair, and he would catch a glimpse of her creamy cheek and dark lashes. He knew that if she only turned around, her face would look exactly like his, now that he had one.

"They promised me you'd heal quickly. They didn't hurt you, did they, Alexiel ?"

Sometimes he thought he could hear a sharp intake of breath, and when he did he would immediately stop talking in the hope that she would say something, anything. But she never did. He was not sure whether he was imagining the sighs.

"Why won't you look at me, Alexiel ?"

His Father had told him that he would only be allowed to see his sister if she agreed to it. It was her decision, He had said. But Rochel was His beloved son, and Rochel ached for his sister so much that he ended up being allowed in the garden of Eden at set times to talk to her.

And Alexiel sat on her stone seat, still as a statue, and never turned around.

"_Alexiel !_"

"Master Rochel !" the nun said, her robes fluttering around her she hurried to him before he could rattle the bars that separated him from his sister. "Please do not make such noise. You are going to upset Mistress Alexiel."

"Upset her ?" Rochel sneered. "Nothing can upset her ! She's empty inside ! That's why she won't look at me ! You hear me, Alexiel ? You have a heart of stone !"

"Master Rochel, that's enough !"

**O.O.O.O**

"... el ! Master Rochel !"

He could feel strands of hair plastered to his face by sweat, but in that moment of blind panic he couldn't tell if the face was really his or not.

"Master Rochel, are you alright ?"

The voice was familiar. Katan, of course. Faithful, devoted Katan. Rochel held out his hands above his head, looking a them with rapt fascination.

"Master Rochel ?"

He covered his face with his hands, exploring it, nails digging into the skin as if to make sure it was real, and it was his, and no one could take it back but himself if he so wished. If only that were true. If only Alexiel's face would stop staring back at him when he looked in the mirror.

And then, there were fingers around his wrists, prying his hands away.

"Master Rochel, you're going to hurt yourself ..."

"Don't touch me !"

There was a soft gasp of pain, and Rochel sat up abruptly. Katan had walked back a step. He was holding the place where Rochel had struck him, his eyes widened a bit by the pain, but not by fear. Never fear. No matter what Rochel could say or do, Katan had never been afraid.

"Master Rochel ?"

Rochel threw the bedclothes away and got up slowly, all but hypnotized by the blood trickling down Katan's cheek and on his fingers. Katan shuddered, but didn't move an inch.

"Oh, Katan ! Did I hurt you ? I'm so sorry !"

Katan still hadn't moved when Rochel's arms twined themselves around his neck. Rochel batted Katan's hand away from the wound and looked at it closely, smelling the scent of blood.

"It looks painful," he mused. "But you won't have a scar. You have such beautiful skin, my beloved Katan."

His tongue darted out and licked the small cut. Katan winced but remained still as his master cleaned his cheek, and then his fingers, mouth avidly lapping the blood as if he were a starved animal.

"Are you feeling better, Master Rochel ?" he asked. "You looked like you were having a nightmare."

Rochel looked up, blood glistening on his lips, and hugged Katan closer.

"Am I beautiful, Katan ?"

"Of course, Master Rochel. Your beauty is the pride of the Heavens."

"Then why wouldn't she tell me ?" Rochel screamed. "Why didn't she ever look at me, when she knew that it was only temporary ? Why didn't she kill me, Katan ?"

Katan stiffened in Rochel's embrace, but Rochel didn't let go, burying his face in the folds of Katan's cloak.

"What do you mean, Master Rochel ?"

"You went through all this pain to bring me back and you haven't figured it out, Katan ?" Rochel said with a dry laugh. "My cells will reject hers one day. We are two halves of one whole, Alexiel the Organic Angel and Rochel the Inorganic Angel, descendants of Adam Kadamon Seraphita. We are twins, we shared a conscience, and we shared our wings, and they gave me cells from her body to give me shape. But we are polar opposites, Katan. Our powers annihilate each other."

"Master Rochel, you mean ..."

"Yes. One day, Alexiel's cells will be rejected by my system. I will go back to the monstruous mass of flesh I once was, Katan. That's why I need my dear sister. Without another graft from her cells, without her body, I will disappear. And she is an empty shell without a soul, and only I can give it back to her and wake her. That's how it always been. Neither of us can live without the other, our very existence defined by that other part of us, yet we are always kept apart. But not anymore."

Rochel shivered, and Katan took off his cloak to wrap his master in it. The wounds that Rochel had inflicted to himself were healed already, thanks to the regenerative powers that came from his sister's cells.

"I will destroy Hell, Katan. I will make Assiah explode, and I will make the Heavens bow before me. And no one will ever keep me and Alexiel apart ever again. No one. We'll finally be together forever."


End file.
